This invention relates to apparatus for producing and dispensing cold products and particularly, frozen products such as confections, food products that can be sprayed, and drinks.
The present apparatus can handle any product that is either liquid or in such form that it can be sprayed. This apparatus is an improvement over the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,190 issued Oct. 16, 1973. The patented apparatus works quite well, but the frozen product is not always as consistent as it might be, and some portions of it may be frozen harder than other portions. In addition, the patented apparatus is relatively slow, and sometimes the flavor or color of a produced product is altered by the flavor or color of the product previously frozen and dispensed.
The above noted disadvantages have been overcome or greatly reduced by the apparatus of this invention. The pressure of the substance to be dispensed in the present apparatus is raised to a predetermined and constant level and then sprayed onto a cold wall at that pressure, and the formed substance is scraped off the wall at a constant rate so that the temperature of the product is constant throughout. Furthermore, the apparatus is provided with a cleansing system, as a result of which when it is desired to change the product being formed, all traces of the last product can be removed. There is also a cleansing system for completely cleansing and sanitizing the apparatus.
Although this apparatus can be used for producing products at temperatures above the freezing level, it is primarily intended for frozen products and will be so described herein. For example, some products become relatively stiff at cold temperatures above freezing.